The present invention relates generally to video cassettes, and more particularly to a limited use recording medium cartridge having a one-piece structure adapted to house the transport mechanism on which the recording medium is wound and unwound, for loading directly into a video cassette recorder (VCR).
Present-day video cassettes are generally composed of a rigid plastic case or housing in which a pair of reels or spools on which a magnetic recording tape is wound are mounted side by side for rotation in unison on spaced capstans or spindles constituting part of the drive mechanism of a VCR. A mechanical latching system is used in the cassette to hold the reels in position when not in use. The tape is transferred from one reel to the other to move laterally adjacent the head(s) of the VCR for recording or playback. Such cassettes or cartridges are relatively inexpensive to manufacture for most applications, where the tape is of sufficient length to record or have recorded thereon a presentation of at least about sixty minutes or more of viewing (or listening) time.
Where the tape is pre-recorded with only a short presentation, however, for the purpose of providing an advertising, sample, or preview presentation which may run only a few minutes in length, for demographic distribution, the cost of the plastic video cassette becomes prohibitive. Moreover, such short presentations are usually intended for only one or a few plays, not for repeated viewings. Hence, ideally, the cassette used for such purposes should be sufficiently inexpensive, both in terms of cost of materials and cost of manufacture, to render it virtually disposable in normal use. Also the materials used in the limited use cassette are lighter in weight than the conventional cassette and therefore, the cost of mailing the limited use cassette is lower than with the conventional cassette. This is in contrast, of course, with the conventional video cassette which, whether prerecorded or to be used for recording an event, is intended for repeated viewings (as well as possible erasures and re-recordings) over perhaps many years, and therefore is not intended to be disposable in normal use.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and easily fabricated limited use video cassette for recording and playback only a few times.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a video cassette which is sufficiently inexpensive to manufacture to render it disposable after limited use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,683 to Reimer et al. discloses a magnetic tape cassette arrangement in which the recording tape reels are mounted in a holder constructed of two or more pieces which may be composed partly of cardboard and are joined together to hold the reels. As described in that patent, the holder is constructed and configured to be used in conjunction with a separate, rigid, precision-made plastic housing into which it is inserted for loading the entire cassette arrangement into the recording machine for recording and playback therein.
Such prior art cassette arrangements are costly to manufacture, notwithstanding being constructed partially from cardboard, because of a multi-piece construction of the holder and the requirement of a separate, plastic, precision-made housing to be available for use of the overall structure in a recording machine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cassette housing for a recording medium which is of one-piece construction and self-contained for loading directly in a record player.